Beekeeping For Dummies. Howland Blackiston
1
Taking Flight with Beekeeping
IN THIS PART …
Discover the role honey bees have played in history, and find out about the many benefits of beekeeping today. Understand the honey bees’ vital role in nature and what they contribute to our agricultural economy.
Decide whether becoming a beekeeper is the right decision for you. How much work is involved? Do you have what it takes? What will your neighbors say?
See what makes honey bees tick. Understand how they communicate with each other, and find out about their different roles and responsibilities as members of a fascinating society.
Find out about other stinging insects that are often confused with the gentle honey bee and as a result give them a bad rap.
Chapter 1
To Bee, or Not to Bee?
IN THIS CHAPTER
I’ve been keeping bees in my backyard since 1983, and I have a confession to make — I really love my bees. That may sound weird to you if you aren’t a beekeeper (yet!), but virtually all individuals who keep bees will tell you the same thing and speak with affection about “their girls.” They can’t wait until their next opportunity to visit their hives. They experience a true emotional loss when their bees don’t make it through a bad winter. Beekeepers, without a doubt, develop a special bond with their bees.
Since becoming a backyard beekeeper, I’ve grown to deeply admire the remarkable qualities of these endearing creatures. As a gardener, I’ve witnessed firsthand the dramatic contribution they provide to flowering plants of all kinds. With honey bees in my garden, its bounty has increased by leaps and bounds. And then there’s that wonderful bonus that they generously give me: a yearly harvest of sweet liquid gold.
After you get to know more about bees’ value and remarkable social skills, you’ll fall in love with them, too. They’re simply wonderful little creatures. Interacting with them is a joy and a privilege. People who love nature in its purest form will love bees and beekeeping.
That being said, in this chapter, I help you better understand the remarkable and bountiful little honey bee by looking at its history and the value it brings to our lives. I also discuss the benefits of beekeeping and why you should consider it as a hobby — or even a small business venture. This chapter outlines the benefits of keeping bees, offers an overview of what is required to keep bees, and explains the various approaches you can take to keep your bees healthy.
THE PREHISTORIC BEE
Bees have been around for a long, long time, gathering nectar and pollinating flowers. They haven’t changed much since the time of the dinosaurs. The insect shown in the following figure is definitely recognizable as a bee. It was caught in a flow of pine sap 30 million to 40 million years ago and is forever preserved in amber.
Courtesy of Mario Espinola
Discovering the Benefits of Beekeeping
Why has mankind been so interested in beekeeping over the centuries? I’m sure that the first motivator was honey. After all, for many years and long before cane sugar, honey was the primary sweetener in use. I’m also sure that honey remains the principal draw for many backyard beekeepers. Chapters 15 through 17 explain about all the different kinds of honey, its culinary attraction, and how to produce, harvest, and market your honey.
But the sweet reward is by no means the only reason folks are attracted to beekeeping. Since the 18th century, agriculture has recognized the value of pollination by bees. Without the bees’ help, many commercial crops would suffer serious consequences. More on that later. Even backyard beekeepers witness dramatic improvements in their garden: more and larger fruits, flowers, and vegetables. A hive or two in the garden makes a big difference in your success as a gardener.
The rewards of beekeeping extend beyond honey and pollination. Bees also produce other products that can be harvested and put to good use, including beeswax, propolis, and royal jelly. Even the pollen they bring back to the hive can be harvested (it’s rich in protein and makes a healthy food supplement in our own diets). Chapter 18 includes a number of fun and practical things you can do with beeswax and propolis.
Harvesting liquid gold: Honey
The prospect of harvesting honey is certainly a strong attraction for new beekeepers. There’s something magical about bottling your own honey. And I can assure you that no other honey tastes as good as the honey made by your own bees. Delicious! Learn all about honey varieties, tasting, and pairing with food in Chapter 15. And be sure to have a look at Chapter 20, where I list ten of my favorite recipes for cooking with honey.
How much honey can you expect? The answer to that question varies depending on factors such as temperature, rainfall, location, and strength of your colony. But producing 40 to 70 pounds or more of surplus honey isn’t unusual for a single strong colony. Chapters 15 through 17 provide plenty of useful information on the kinds of honey you can harvest from your bees and how to go about it. Also included are some suggestions on how you can go about selling your honey — how this hobby can boast a profitable return on investment!
Bees as pollinators: Their vital role to our food supply
The survival of flowering plants depends upon pollination. Any gardener recognizes the value of pollinating insects, birds, bats, and even the wind. This is an essential service in the production of seed and fruit. You may not have thought much about the role honey bees play in our everyday food supply. It is estimated that in North America around 30 percent of the food we consume is produced from bee-pollinated plants. Bees also pollinate crops, such as clover and alfalfa that cattle feed on, making bees important to our production and consumption of meat and dairy. The value of pollination by bees is estimated at around $20 billion in the United States alone.
These are more than interesting facts; these are realities with devastating consequences if bees were to disappear. And sadly, the health of honey bees has been compromised in recent years (see the later section “Being part of the bigger picture: Save the bees!”). Indeed a spring without bees could endanger our food supply and impact our economy. It’s a story that has become headline news in the media.
HONEYBEE OR HONEY BEE?
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